Democrats’ War Powers Bill Seeks to Limit Trump’s Iran Options
Democrats’ War Powers Bill Seeks to Limit Trump’s Iran Options
(Bloomberg) -- Democrats are launching a symbolic and probably futile attempt to limit President Donald Trump’s ability to initiate further hostilities with Iran without seeking authorization from Congress.
The House and Senate resolutions are unlikely to attract much GOP support, even though some Republicans have expressed general unease with presidents using loose justification to continue and expand armed conflicts. But since the U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, most Republicans say they support the move Trump said would prevent attacks on Americans.
The House resolution, led by Michigan Representative and former CIA analyst Elissa Slotkin, would curtail military action against Iran in 30 days without congressional authorization. The full House could vote on it as soon as this week, and it will probably pass the Democratic-led chamber.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a Sunday letter to colleagues that she was concerned that The Trump administration didn’t consult Congress before the strike, which “endangered our servicemembers, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.”
Over the years, Congress under both parties has tried and failed to assert some influence over the president’s authority to dispatch troops and declare war.
Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, introduced a companion resolution that is unlikely to get the simple majority needed to pass the Republican-led Senate. Even if it passes, it will probably fall short of the two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.
“I suspect there’s some Republicans who will” support the measure, Kaine said in an interview. “They may have a different view on whether we should be at war with Iran but I do expect that many of them believe that it should be Congress, not the president, who makes the decision.”
The Senate resolution will have to be brought to a vote as soon as Jan. 13 because of its privileged status under the 1973 War Powers Act. There would be three votes on the measure: to discharge it from committee, to proceed to a vote, and a vote on final passage.
Military Authorizations
Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama justified the continued presence of U.S. troops in the Middle East -- and a shifting mission in the region -- under the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force. Kaine’s resolution specifies that these authorizations, known as AUMFs, do not cover conflict with Iran.
The Trump administration cited the 2002 AUMF, which authorized the Iraq war, as part of the justification for last week’s airstrike. U.S. officials have also said Trump has the constitutional authority to launch the strike without prior approval from Congress.
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo also said the drone strike that targeted two cars, one of which was carrying Soleimani, near the Baghdad airport was necessary to prevent an “imminent attack.” Pelosi said in a statement she wasn’t satisfied by the Trump administration’s justification, which was classified.
While some members of Trump’s party have expressed concern about how Iran will retaliate, only one Republican, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, has unequivocally denounced the strike that killed the Iranian general.
“You’d have to be a brain-dead individual” to believe killing Soleimani would help negotiate a better nuclear deal, Paul said, in reference to the 2015 agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear activities. Trump pulled the U.S. out of that deal in 2018.
“The death of Soleimani is the death of diplomacy,” Paul said. “I see only military escalation from here. I see no way out.”
‘Safer Without Soleimani’
Republicans have shown some willingness to try to curtail Trump’s power to unilaterally act on matters of foreign policy. Seven GOP senators joined with Democrats in a 54-46 vote last year to withdraw U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. The House passed the same resolution in April. Trump vetoed it and the Senate failed to override the veto.
Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah who was a co-sponsor of the resolution to withdraw U.S. support for the war in Yemen, said he wouldn’t support the Iran resolution “as it’s written” because he objected to some of its “findings of fact.”
Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana, who joined Kaine on a previous resolution to repeal the AUMF in Iraq, said he hasn’t yet taken a look at Kaine’s resolution.
“I haven’t read it yet,” he said. “I’m still studying all the particulars but I’ll say this: The world is a lot safer without Soleimani and it’s a good thing he’s no longer with us.”
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy pointed to Trump’s previous examples of restraint in responding to provocations from Iran.
“Remember what the president’s actions were when they shot down the drone that was unmanned?” McCarthy said of Iran. Trump at that time “did not attack or provoke, he gave them an opportunity to disarm. What did they do? They escalated. They attacked our embassy, they killed an American.”
Kaine said Monday in a Senate floor speech that even if members of Congress disagree on how to handle escalating tensions with Iran, they should all be willing to shoulder the responsibility to declare war, which the Constitution gives the legislative branch.
“If there is to be a war with Iran, it should not be initiated by this president or any president acting on his or her own,” Kaine said. “It should only be initiated by a vote of Congress following an open and public debate.”
--With assistance from Billy House and Jordan Fabian.
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, Laurie Asséo
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